A/N—Again, I fully admit that leaving this piece a oneshot may have been on the side of "cruel and unusual punishment." So I'm giving you all this second chapter as compensation. I don't promise to resolve all the questions (again, this is a season finale fic), but this chapter contains a lot of answers. Also, a small spoiler alert for this piece: EJ's two team members (who, I believe, will be introduced in this next episode, "Dead Reflection") are in this chapter.
When he heard the distant and muffled gunshot, his head snapped up from the utility closet that he was examining. Gibbs quickly looked in McGee's direction, noting the alarm on his face as well.
He asked the rest of the team, "Everyone okay? Which floor was that from?" Simon and Gayne answered from the second floor, "It wasn't us. How's the ground floor, EJ?" Gibbs listened intently for an answer that didn't come. "Ziva? EJ?" he asked. "Report your position." He, McGee, Simon, and Gayne waited a brief anxious silence before Gibbs ordered, "Everyone to the ground floor now!"
He and McGee pounded down the stairs, hitting the landing as Simon and Gayne reached it. The four of them continued to the bottom floor, weapons drawn and ready. "Search every inch. And stay in pairs!" he yelled fiercely as Simon and Gayne began searching the east side of the warehouse.
Halfway through their search of the western side, McGee said to Gibbs in a low voice, "You don't think this is like what happened last time, do you? Tony—"
"This isn't last time. We'll find them," Gibbs interrupted, almost failing to keep the note of worry out of his voice.
After clearing yet another room, Gibbs burst out in frustration, "Where are Ziva and EJ? Has anybody had contact with them?" Simon answered, "Not yet. We're reaching our end of the building, though." Suddenly, Gibbs heard an unfamiliar, male voice say, "Basement. South-east corner."
He shared a brief look of shock with McGee, then, "South-east corner! Now!" As they reached the east end, Simon rushed past them in a full sprint. "Where are you going?" Gibbs yelled, bewildered. "In pursuit!" he answered over his shoulder. This statement took a split second to register before he said, "McGee, you too!"
Gibbs ran into the last room to see Gayne standing over a hole in the floor. "This isn't supposed to be here," Gayne said, eying Gibbs. "No, it's not," he said as he started to climb down a ladder that had been placed there. His flashlight and gun both ready, he waited for Gayne to descend before they both started quickly down a dark, narrow passage.
They soon came upon a heavy steel door that stood slightly ajar in the wall to their left. They burst inside, instantly freezing at the sight that met them. "Call an ambulance IMMEDIATELY!" Gibbs yelled to Gayne. As the younger man flicked open his phone, they both rushed into action, Gibbs running to Ziva, Gayne to EJ.
Gibbs knelt in the pool of blood beside his downed agent and bent close to examine her. The blood in his own veins instantly chilled as he took in the state of her. Her torso was slashed, and her throat appeared to be shredded on the left side. When he felt for her wrist, there was only the faintest whisper of a pulse. As he did his best to stem the flow of blood, he said urgently, "Ziva! Can you hear me?" No answer came from her lips as Gayne appeared beside him.
"EJ?" Gibbs asked, already knowing the answer. As Gayne assisted him in his task, he shook his head with a distraught look on his face. "It was definitive," he said in a cracked voice as he applied pressure to Ziva's torso.
Gibbs fell silent for a moment before saying, "Ambulance?"
"Already on its way. We're not far from the hospital, so it shouldn't take them long."
"Alright, I'll try my best with Ziva, but I want you to head back upstairs and lead them in."
"Got it," Gayne said standing back up. Gibbs heard him stop briefly by EJ's body before dashing out of the room and back along the passage.
As he sat with Ziva in the near dark, his heart racing, he said in a low, frantic voice, "Don't worry. We'll get you the help you need. Just hold on!" And he couldn't help but feel that these words were more for his benefit than hers. For a brief moment, he was almost sure he saw her eyes shift slightly beneath her eyelids before he heard Gayne say, "They're here! Leading them in now."
A moment later, he and four paramedics burst into the room. One of them and Gayne headed for EJ, and the other three went straight for Ziva. As Gibbs stood up, he staggered back, still keeping a watchful eye on her face. The men set to work, wrapping her wounds in temporary bandages, quickly transferring her to a stretcher, and feeding her the oxygen she desperately needed.
Gibbs turned around to look at the other two kneeling over EJ. The paramedic completed his all-too-brief exam and said to Gayne, "I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do for her." Her agent slowly nodded his head before closing her dull, staring eyes.
After a moment, the other paramedics rushed past with Ziva as they headed back out into the corridor. Gibbs looked toward Gayne and said, "I'll help them up the ladder with Ziva." He briefly stared at the trio on the floor before following the other group out. As they reached the ladder, one of the paramedics climbed up to the floor above. He knelt at the edge of the hole, pulling Ziva up headfirst while Gibbs and the others lifted the other end of the stretcher, her feet nearly touching the low ceiling in their attempt to keep her as level as possible. The paramedic slid her onto the floor above, the rest of them quickly following her up.
They carried Ziva out of the warehouse and loaded her into the ambulance as Gibbs watched. Slamming the doors shut, the lead paramedic echoed Gibbs' words, reassuring him, "Don't worry. We'll help her." Jumping into the driver's seat, the vehicle sped off, leaving Gibbs staring after it. He brought his hand up to rub his eyes before noticing the red. He stopped, looked down at his clothing, and noticed for the first time the copious amount of blood that clung to them. He tore off his jacket and hastily attempted to wipe away the reminder of another mistake from his hands.
Beeps...darkness...green eyes...brown eyes...lifeless, staring eyes...mutters and murmurs...a knife, a gun, a bullet...pain...red...more darkness, more beeps...
Her eyelids slowly drifted open, the sight of a blank, white ceiling there to greet her. She heard a sigh of relief to her left and slowly turned her head to see Gibbs sitting next to her. He leaned forward to stare into her weary face and asked, "How are you?" She closed her eyes and turned away, saying, "I have had better days." After a moment of silence, she finally opened her eyes and inclined her hospital bed. As she sat up, she took a sharp intake of breath, holding her midsection. Gibbs made a move to help her, but she just shook her head and sat up a little straighter.
"You bled out quite a bit; they almost lost you three times during surgery. The knife he used on you actually damaged your liver, but not seriously. However, the bullet that went through your throat...That was worse. It was this close," he said, holding his thumb and forefinger a centimeter apart, "from striking you're spinal cord. It tore through your carotid artery and actually chipped a bone in your neck. That complicated things for the surgeons," he said quietly. She cupped her hand over her bandaged throat, feeling her slight pulse beneath. "The doctor said you're lucky to be alive."
"And EJ?" Ziva asked, already suspecting his reply.
"...She died on scene. Ducky did her autopsy, said her death was pretty quick."
"I should have known better," she said turning away. "The entire time, my gut was telling me something was wrong. You would think I would have learned to listen to it after what happened during our most recent raid," she said quietly, still not looking at Gibbs. "It's not your fault," he said looking at a point on her sheets. "You were chasing ghosts...We all were..."
Ziva finally looked at Gibbs and said, "So we have not caught him yet." It wasn't a question. Gibbs shook his head, admitting, "No, we haven't. When we were looking for you and EJ at the warehouse, Simon saw him watching us from the other end of the building. He and McGee ran after him, but they couldn't find any sign of where he'd gone." Ziva looked away again, saying quietly, "He really likes to show how close he can get to us."
"Yeah, he does," Gibbs noted, watching her closely. "We're just running in circles; he's as meticulous as ever. He left nothing behind but those eyes." At the mention of this, she looked at Gibbs intently, waiting for what he would say next. "They belonged to a naval petty officer missing since last Friday. We don't know how he fits in, but we're working on it." Upon hearing this, Ziva slackened a bit. She brought a slightly shaking hand to cover her eyes, saying quietly, "When I found them...I thought they were Tony's." Gibbs fell silent, then said in an equally quiet, yet firm voice, "He's missing, not dead...We'll find him." Ziva nodded her head, refusing to look in his direction, knowing her eyes would betray her thoughts.
Attempting to change the subject, Gibbs said in a foreignly cheerful voice, "McGee, Abby, and Ray were here just a few minutes ago. Those are from her," he said, pointing past Ziva towards a gratuitously large bouquet of red and black balloons plastered with varying slogans of "Get well soon!" At the sight of them, she cracked her first small smile in what felt like weeks. Staring at them, Gibbs said, "I gave the team the rest of the afternoon off, actually."
"In the middle of—?"
"This case, Ziva...It's beating us all up," he said wearily. And she couldn't help but notice how much older he suddenly looked, how tired his eyes became. "We've been pounding this case almost nonstop for the last month. Between you, Tony, and EJ...this past week's been rough. Abby's frantic and refuses to sleep regular hours, Tim's pushing himself to pick up the slack, and I've got Vance on my back the entire time. Simon and Gayne won't rest either; EJ's death hit them hard. The losses we've sustained..." he trailed off. He paused before saying, "We all needed a bit of a mental break." He heaved a resigned shrug, and for a brief moment, Ziva thought she saw defeat flit through his eyes. This frightened her more than anything.
They fell into silence until Gibbs sighed and got to his feet. "Well, we're back on this tomorrow. I'll have to brief you, find out what happened at the warehouse. Today, you should just rest. Everyone'll be happy to know you're awake," he said, managing a small smile.
As he reached to open the door, Ziva said quietly, "He did not kill me." Gibbs paused, staring back at her. "He had many opportunities to do it." He looked her in the eye and said, "He told us where to find you. We found out afterward that he had taken EJ's earbud." Ziva stared into the corner and said in a low voice, "He knew who I was. We have met before, but...I do not know how."
Gibbs waited for her to say something more, but she remained silent. "We'll talk tomorrow," he finally repeated. After he left, Ziva concentrated on the opposite wall, replaying the hundreds, the thousands of people she'd met in her life, attempting, but failing, to remember who the man was.
A/N—Thanks for putting up with my writing habits :P . Comments, criticisms, and reviews are always greatly appreciated. Until next time, happy reading :)